Turning Down The Flames
by highlyxxdescendingx
Summary: If the flock never went to the school, how else would they have met? They never had wings, super powers, Iggy was never blind, and Jeb wasn't a total traitor. Fax.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: JP owns the book. Not me. So, you get the point.**

**I got this idea by reading a bunch of fanfictions. Sorry to anyone who possibly have done this idea. And again, sorry I haven't been on here recently, I'm getting back into school and old habits so I've been working extra hard in my schoolwork. You can tell because I forgot my math book today. Ha.**

Okay, so in this story, it's just Fang and Max and the school never existed and they don't have wings. You'll see, it's not a total waste of time. Oh, and the flock comes into the story later.

"Go, Max," dad nudged me towards the door. I was terrified. Kids were inside the room, running around, playing with alphabet blocks, holding their stuffed animals, eating glue, but I stood frozen outside the door to my classroom. Kindergarten. "Have fun, sweetie." Jeb pushed me into the room, kissed my head and was gone before I looked back into the empty hallway.

This is my story of how I met five incredible kids who became my family. I'm looking back on this to tell you how I met each one. The first one I met is Fang. Not an everyday or real name but it fit him. Anyway…

I slowly took off my pack and found hooks that we set them on to the left of the room. I noticed each kids backpack had a cartoon character or something I had seen on Disney. Mine was just light purple. I turned around to see all the kids up close, as much as I hated to, but most of them were too busy to notice me. I saw the teacher in the front of the room trying to get a bucket off a boy's head. So, this was kindergarten? What a dream come true.

After a few minutes of sitting on the side of the room, standing stiffly, my little legs got tired and I sat at a table that was occupied with only one boy who was busy coloring. I sighed and wished I were with Ella, my little sister. She was lucky. She didn't have to go here until a couple of years. Maybe she would like it, I thought. She always did like playing with other kids while I sat inside and helped mom cook dinner.

The boy must have heard me sigh because he instantly looked up and kept looking at me. He had untidy black hair that stuck up everywhere, dark, almost black eyes, and olive skin. He looked nice but he seemed to like it better in the back of the room where the kids didn't go. I didn't blame him. Kids dripping goo from their noses, always yelling or shouting, and crying for their parents. I picked up a coloring book and silently reached for an orange crayon. Just like that, we colored everyday in that class and never spoke to each other (except for saying hello and goodbye) until second grade.

"Hi," I said quietly to Fang the first day of second grade. He grew taller and his hair grew longer but not much changed about him. He still shied away from kids and often slept during class. He cleared his throat and said "Hi, Max."

But it wasn't until recess a few weeks later that we started to realize our friendship was growing. I was on the swings that once I got on, everyone else ran away from and I started going high on the swings. I loved the feeling of the air on the back of my neck and my hair whipping like a flag through the open, open air. Fang was on the top of the jungle gym that most kids were too scared to climb up to because it was so high up. I wasn't and neither was Fang.

"Why don't you talk more?" I heard a bulky boy say to Fang from below the jungle gym. He looked down, focused on the kids below and looked back up into the sky. I skidded to a stop on my swing and got off in a stupid girly fashion I always had. The boy, whose name I now found out was Eric, reached up and shook Fang's shoe that was dangling in the air. Fang gripped the bars to hold on. "Hey, I'm talking to you," Eric sneered. I charged over there fast enough to make a blur behind me and was in front of the boys.

"Go away," I said simply. But of course, they didn't move. They just laughed. I rolled my eyes as they did the whole 'the girl's standing up for a guy' thing and stomped on Eric's foot. "I said, go away!" I yelled. Eric got a pained look on his face and sat on the ground, holding his foot.

"Ouch! Fine!" his buddy helped him up and they stumbled away.

I looked back up at Fang who was looking down at me and bit my lip. He motioned me to come up there and I did.

"Thanks," he looked into the sky again and I nodded quietly.

And then, we go into fifth grade where we started to become best friends, closer than you could believe. Kids started making fun of us around that age because we often stayed together, everywhere we went. Sometimes, he would walk to my house and we would help each other with homework. A lot of people thought we were boyfriend and girlfriend, but we were only friends and too young to even think about relationships. But another part of my family came into the picture that year.

"Oh my god."

"Look at that kid's hair."

"He's a total freak."

I was looking around for what everyone was looking at and quickly found it. A new student. He had strawberry blonde hair with an electric blue streak in his longish hair that I thought was pretty damn cool. But kids were judging him every two seconds for it. Something that really bothered me. His eyes were pure, light blue and he had freckles dotted fairly on his cheeks. I tapped Fang's arm, because he was dead asleep and pointed to the new guy. He jerked upright, scratched his eyes, and looked where I was pointing. I gave him an understanding look and he returned it. Somehow we just knew he would be a misfit like us.

His name turned out to be Jeff but somehow we came up with Iggy, and called him that. The teacher put him next to Fang and I was thankful he wasn't in between me and Fang incase he turned out to be a total nut. He smiled at Fang, who forced a grin and looked away, and then at me which I returned truly. And then we were three.

**Let me know how you like it.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: No, I do not own Maximum Ride.**

**Back with another one. Thank you all so much for the reviews and story alerts and everything. Even though I'm sick, it makes me feel tons better with what I'm doing. I have a whole stack of stories I plan to upload onto here and I hope some people will like them.**

**I may skip around here and there, try to bear with me.**

"Max!" I jumped at the sound of Iggy's voice outside. I looked out the open window and down to the sidewalk where Ig was sitting on his bike. "Let's go!" I hurried up with straightening my hair and tossed on a jacket then placed my book bag over my shoulder. Iggy was riding me to school today since I missed the bus. 8th grade. God, it all went by so fast. I raced downstairs and out the door, making a whole lot of noise for Jeb was the only one in the house. Ella got to the bus and mom was working already. I guess I was in that rebellious stage. Plus Jeb absolutely hated me hanging out with Fang and Iggy. Mom just giggled and walked away. Ugh, parents.

"What took you so long?" Iggy asked. I strutted up to him, then stood on the back of the bike and held onto his shoulders.

"I'm only a girl," I replied as he started going off into the shortcuts to school. My hair trailed behind me and I suddenely wished I had put it up. Iggy snorted.

"Barely," he responded. Which was pretty much true. By the time we got to school, Fang, Ella, and Monique were waiting in front of the school. Ella looked at me in digust.

"I can't believe you're wearing that," she sneered at me. I looked down at my outfit. My jeans had many holes and scratches in them, black and white checkered Vans, and I was wearing a dark red jacket. Ella and Monique were wearing…well, I'll sum it up for you, pink. I just laughed and pushed past her. Monique smiled at me as I went by, but not a mean smile. It was like Ella had a spell on her or something. I don't know, I don't understand girls very well. Ig parked his bike and met up with Fang and I as we headed to my locker.

"So, do you know what next Tuesday is?" Fang asked us. I shook my head. Turning the lock to my combonation, I heard Iggy agree with me. Fang leaned against the wall. "It's when we graduate." I don't even know why the teachers called it that, it's not like we were in high school yet so basically we were just going into high school. But we all knew what that meant. Dressing up into stupid suits and dresses. And trusting my mom, she would take millions of pictures of me. I sat in the bottom of my locker and banged my head against the metal.

"Miss Martinez! Get out of your locker right now!" an angry looking teacher yelled at me. I rolled my eyes and stood up, slamming my locker behind me. Instantly, we were at Fang's locker, which wasn't far from mine.

"Do we really have to dress up like freaks?" Iggy read my mind as he watched teachers all around us. Fang opened his locker and threw his book bag in it. He nodded and I sighed. Just then the bell rang and I charged off, looking behind me and waving to the boys'.

* * *

So, here we were at this stupid ceremony where we saw girls wearing poofy, prom dresses and guy wearing tuxedos and taking pictures of themselves. I was looking all around for any sight of Fang or Iggy but they weren't here yet. I managed to find a dark, gothic looking dress just to piss off the teachers and my hair was down in small curls. I wanted to smash the mirror everytime I saw my reflection. I found Iggy in the back of the gym wearing slacks and a nice shirt.

"Wow, I'm never letting you live this down."

"I hate you."

"I know." That's when I saw Fang walk in wearing a tuxedo and I burst out laughing and walked over to him. He sighed and rolled his eyes. My dress would barely let me breathe so I was practically choking for air. But it was too funny.

"Well look at you, wait are you wearing makeup?" Iggy asked and they burst out laughing as I stopped. Ella finally got to me and put glittery stuff all over me and mascara on my eyes.

"Oh, Max," my mom cried behind me and I turned sharply to be blinded by the flash of a camera. "You look so beautiful." More laughs from Ig and Fang. She turned and snapped a picture of them.

"Ow," they groaned and rubbed their eyes. I don't think mom got a single picture of us smiling that night. Monique became part of my family soon after that as she told off Ella for insulting me a few more times. We didn't get to see her often because we went into high school…_.and everything changed_.

**Try to guess what will happen in high school. The only reason I did 8****th**** grade is because that's what grade I'm in. Yeah, try to stalk me now, I don't really care. But what Max did is something I'm gonna kinda do. I want a dark grey dress that drags in the back and I'm gonna make my hair look all scene then wear a crown. Yeah, I'm weird. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I'm back!!! But no, I don't own Maximum Ride.**

**I'm back!! And I got a new penname. Personally, I like it and I hope it stays as how it is. So, thanks for the reviews and here we go.**

Later in high school, things got weird. Really weird. First off, my parents were divorced before I went into my sophomore year, but I didn't mind. It was Jeb's fault anyway. Apparently, he had been working for this undercover lab in California that did horrible things. I knew he was a scientist. Just not a mad scientist. More on that later.

Ella was destroyed, just like mom. I wasn't sure how I felt. He was my dad, I should have been crying in a tight ball that first night. Instead, I had snuck in his office.

I grabbed my school ID card, hoping I could somehow unlock the door. It didn't work. Looking over my shoulder, I made sure no one was up. But it was midnight and I heard snoring coming from upstairs. Good. I'm not sure how I managed to get inside Jeb's office. I was tired as hell but I couldn't help knowing why and what he was doing secretly. Otherwise, I didn't have a reason to hate him.

The door popped open loudly and the bobby pin in my hand flew out of the keyhole. "Shit," I muttered to myself and quickly scrambled into the room, shutting the door quietly behind me. Inside was his desk, bookshelves, chairs scattered all over the room, and papers flung everywhere. I walked over to the desk, the moonlight gleaming on my back. Most of the drawers opened except one labeled under my name. Of course.

Instead, I drug out files that looked promising and read through them. Some started out with pictures of mutations and children. Sometimes adults. I unclipped the pictures and went straight to the files. They included a bunch of nonsense and scientific information I barely knew. All I knew was that he experimented on people to make them freaks. One picture had a little boy with scaly skin and webbed fingers. Another had a female adult with elephant ears and a short tail.

Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. I shoved everything back into the cabinets and ran out of the room crying. I didn't want to know anymore. I was glad my own father was gone because I couldn't stand to look at him, knowing what he did when he went to work.

The next day, at school, I found Fang staring at me in every class we had together. I was still upset about last night. I didn't want to say anything because it would cause me to think about it again. I was about to breakdown when he asked me what was wrong but I took heavy breaths and told him briefly.

"But the only locked cabinet was labeled…my name," I whispered, looking anxiously around at people outside, in case they were listening. "Do you think..he..expiremented on me?" I said steadily. I was gripping the wall I was leaning against just to stay up. Fang looked down at me, he was so much taller then me, and sighed.

"No. I think you would have remembered something from it. Just.."

"But what if he gave me something to forget about it?"

"He didn't. Don't worry about it, Max. And if he planned to do something before he left, he would have done it." Fang gripped my hips to hold me up. I didn't realize I was shaking. I hugged him tightly, burying myself in his chest. "Nothing going to happen to you. I promise, Max." he kissed the top of my head quickly. Did I mention we were going out? Well, yeah. We were trying at least. It felt weird but natural at the same time. Sure, I loved Fang but I wasn't sure if I loved him in this way. I still had so much time to figure out my feelings.

**That was short. But I have to go.**

**See what I mean when I say I'm busy? More later. Review.**


End file.
